Thief of Past
by Jade Opal
Summary: "Do you know what it's like to be in love? To be half of a whole?" "There's not a day that I look back and regret what I've done to Eames..." A look into Eames' past flame during the movie. EamesOC. Please R R.
1. Prologue: Normal POV

**A/N: I LIVE! *ahem, cough* Ok, moving on. New story here. This came to me while I was in basic training last year and didn't get the chance to get this down until now. So, you know the drill: read and review at the bottom of the screen! *hugs all around* Please enjoy!**

**_DISCLAIMER!_ **I don't own _INCEPTION_ nor do I own the characters created by Christopher Nolan *Great director, in my opinion*. I only own Ai and her personality.

(PROLOGUE)

_Ai was doing Tai Chi after her team left for sleep. She moved with a sense of serenity as she moved her entire body in a tune she remembered as a child. She sensed someone and opened her eyes to see…_

Bolting to a sitting position in her bed, a young woman of 28 years took a few hungry breaths; each one slowly easing her mind from the nightmare. Rubbing the sleep away from her eyes with the hell of her hands, she groaned as she allowed herself to slowly get ready for the day. Not even a minute away from her bed, she heard her cellphone playing a tune from 'SWAT'. She almost groaned in pain as she scrambled back to bed to retrieve said technology.

"Morimoto Aika," she said in Japanese as she sat on her bed Indian Style.

_"Hey Ai, it's Arthur. Hope I wasn't calling at a bad time."_

"No, Artie—been up for a lil while. What's up?"

_"Are you busy the next week or so? I got a job that would need your expertise in a tight bind._"

"Oh really? You in a tight bind? You got Dom for crying out loud…"

_"Yeah well…it's kind of a high priority job…and it's with Cobal."_

"Are you kidding me?! And who was the Einstein that arranged all this? You know what—never mind. Do I need to travel to where you guys are or do you think I can do my thing where I'm currently at?"

_"You can do your handling from Venice?_"

"Close, but not Venice—try Paris. Decided to visit Uncle Miles besides doing recruitment for a friend that's along for a new hacker…oh the things I do…"

_"You get paid for it, Ai. But seriously, you can do it from that much of a distance now?"_

"Took me all this time to work on it, so yeah; I don't see why it's not possible."

_"All right, I'll email ya the specs in a few. Thanks again._"

"Anything for you, gêgê," Ai said before hanging up.


	2. Chapter 1 (Ai's POV)

**A/N: Ok, so I'm on a roll with posting what I got so far-which is a LOT of chapters I got done thus far. Anyhoo, please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Please see the first chapter for proper disclaimer.**

(Ai's POV)

She wasn't sure if returning to Cobb's team was the best idea; he did call her on the one number that she gave out to only those she trusted with her life, which wasn't much to begin with. In a way, she was glad to see the Extractor and his second in the team again; she hadn't seen Arthur in the three years since she took an unexpected leave of absence in order to clear her head after the 'incident'. In her doing that, she ended up leaving Eames after a five-month relationship with the Forger. With her return to do the Fischer job, she was going to have to face him...and whatever mess she could salvage from her leaving him.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she waited for Arthur to let her into the warehouse that the team set up as a base of operations. She lightly blew away the stray bang that got in her mouth as hazel brown eyes took in the exterior of the home base. A gust of wind caused her to pull her jacket even tighter against her lithe form. She was tempted to yell out for Arthur when the door opened and said person stuck his head out from behind the door.

"Gee Artie; way to make a girl freeze to death out here," the petite brunette said with a grin to the other brunette.

Arthur whipped his head as soon as she spoke, giving the petite woman the answer on whether she scared the point man easily. He narrowed his eyes a little in annoyance because of that.

"Cait, you know that I hate when you do that," Arthur replied. "And don't call me Artie...makes me feel like I'm a female," he whined as the woman laughed.

"Awww, did I hurt your feelings? And, you should know better than to call me that-I've always been Ai around you guys."

"To Dom and I, you're Cait no matter what you say," Arthur said with a grin as he hugged the woman. "C'mon, you're getting colder by each second we're out here talking," he added as he led Ai inside the warehouse.


	3. Chapter 2 (Eames' POV)

**Disclaimer: Please see the first chapter for proper disclaimer.**

(Eames' POV)

Eames was hoping that he would just be better off not having to deal with the mere fact that **_SHE_** was there in the same room as Cobb and Arthur. Then again, the team needed her in case something was to go wrong while getting the concept of Inception underway. Not to say that Caitlynn Aiasha Su wasn't good at what she did as a handler/medic/psychic.

The Forger first met the unique Extractor a few years back before dream sharing started and again after dream sharing and dream invasion first came about. She wasn't in the business for long and was a bit...well; she didn't strike as attractive to him, at first.

It wasn't until she was in the first level of the dreamscape that he was wowed away for sure: she had let her hair down and it was layered, so her eyes really popped out besides a streak of red lowlights, which made her hair pop a bit more; she wore a very form-fitting red halter dress, compared to the sweatshirt and sweatpants she wore prior to being sedated with the rest of the team; and she wore black strappy stilettos. All-in-all, she was very enticing. What made her even more delish in his eyes was that she was able to fight in said outfit as it were nothing hindering her. It was later explained to him, while the two were covered in only the bed sheets a few weeks later, that she was able to train herself easily to fight in the 'Ada Wong' dress and heels.

After a five-month relationship blossomed from that, Ai had stumbled into Dom's sub-consciousness by accident and was met with Mal slashing out her eyes. She never recovered easily from that encounter; this led Eames to make her totem out of her Celtic necklace that she wore around her neck-she would pinch the sharp ends of her necklace with her thumb and forefinger of her right hand if she gets doubted reality from dreamscape.

Just after two days of the incident and receiving her totem, Eames had gone out to get groceries for the apartment when he returned to Ai missing. He searched the entire apartment before he took notice of a note addressed to him.

"Don't find me-I'll find you again." was all that was written.

And now, 3 years later...she hadn't looked any better than the day she went missing. The only thing that was new on her was the side bangs, which enhanced her beauty all the more. Plus, she was wearing button down shirts and boots, steering away from the sweats and sneakers he was so accustomed to seeing her wear.

He held back from talking with her probably due to him still being hurt after her leaving him all those years ago in their apartment in Malibu. However, Eames failed to notice the petite brunette making her way over to him until she had asked him something. He blinked and realized that she was talking to him.

"Care to repeat that, luv?" he said, sounding a bit harsher than he wanted to.

"I was asking how you were doing...guess you've onto another chick that's willing to sate your craving," Ai said, not surprised at his tone towards her.

"Surprisingly well, seeing that I did three years of solitary at the apartment I had gotten with my last serious girlfriend..." Eames replied as he walked away from her, not missing the feeling of his arm brushing against hers.

If he had turned his head at the right moment, he wouldn't have missed the look of hurt on the young woman's face. Or, how she would watch his movement to wherever he went.

**A/N: BTW, this chapter was posted on LJ as a prompt. So, this one had ALREADY been published in a way, so this one was easy...and one of the few prompts that got me working on getting the story up and going. Don't forget to review!**


	4. Chapter 3: Normal POV

**Disclaimer: Please see the first chapter for proper disclaimer.**

(Normal POV)

Ai was typing away on her laptop as the silence of the warehouse surrounded her like a cocoon, almost whisking her to falling into slumber. Her headphones were on; ambient sounds were echoing through her skull, training her to focus on the tiny details while on a mission...plus it soothed her from the thoughts of fancy that inhabited her mind as of late.

It didn't help that her mind wandered as of late, especially if she was working with a certain British forger after three years of absence on whatever relationship they had. She didn't know what was going to happen but she hoped that it was painless and bloodless as possible. Letting out a sigh, she paused from her typing and played around with the necklace that hung around her neck…it didn't help that there was a ring on there that she never bothered to wear nowadays…one she had to keep from Eames from seeing.

As her fingers met the smooth texture of the ring that hung on her neck, she recalled when she re-met Eames after dream sharing came into the picture…

**_Eames was just struggling while having been in the military for three years and discharged with honors…however; he only succeeded because of a fellow shipmate had given him aid through the entire basic training. And, for the like of him, he could not recall the name of that fellow shipmate nor the face of the one that got him through all the way. It gnawed at his conscious one afternoon while he was in The Blind Beggar, Whitechapel's little gem of a pub, kicking back a bourbon straight up. As he sat at the bar, the British forger was bored to tears. It wasn't like that for long before his brown eyes spotted a leggy redhead entering from outside. His possible next notch wore a dark green mini dress that really emphasized her figure and it made her all the more delish. He found himself licking his lip as the red head walked past him, sitting herself at the bar not far from where he sat._**

**_"Hey, Lars—I'll have a Guinness…and make it a big one," the redhead said just as her short hair grew out to being long with layers and it changing from red to brown in seconds. "I'm telling ya, Lars—some men are just plain ol' creeps. Why did I take that job again?" she added as she held up her head with a hand._**

**_"Hey, you asked if I had anything for ya and I had that one available, lass. It's your own darn fault for it."_**

**_"All the more reason as to why I hate when you do that to me, Lars…did I do something to ya in the past life?"_**

**_The middle-aged bartender laughed at that comment._**

**_"If that was the case, I'd had hoped it was a pretty severe one, if anything."_**

**_"I know. It's not easy being a handler nowadays…" the woman said as she combed through her long layered hair with her olive-tan fingers, which made Eames groan inwardly with pleasure._**

**_"Why you say that, pumpkin?"_**

**_"Because, it's hard to sort out what's worse on each job I take—the people I'm teamed up with or the job itself lacks that thrill I crave for. I just want the excitement—the thrill that a job would give me…kind of how it was in boot before I left the service to join up on this dream-sharing project."_**

**_Eames looked over at the barkeep, who had his lips pursed in a straight line and a semi-worried look in his eyes…this, the Brit would claim to have seen before, was the look of a concerned father._**

**_"Listen, kiddo—I'll try and see if there's one that would give ya that. You just hang in there for me, ok Cait?" the barkeep said as he patted her free hand lightly. "Now, if you would excuse me, my dear…I got patrons that seem to be have been trying to get my attention since you got in," he added with a warm smile before tending to said patrons further away from Eames and the mystery woman._**

**_Once the barkeep left the two alone, Eames took it as his chance to scoot closer to her. But, before he could say a word to her, she beat him to the punch by speaking to him._**

**_"Couldn't help but being nosy, huh? Just like in boot…god, how did you manage to survive on your own after all that years ago?" the woman said as she took a generous gulp of her Guinness without looking at Eames._**

**_Eames looked at this woman with confusion clearly written all over his face. How did she know he was listening in on her conversation? And how did she…?_**

**_"Eames, right? Well, it would seem that life outside of the force helped on your memory," she replied as she grinned before turning her head to look at him._**

**_It took Eames only a split second to recall who this woman was and he too grinned back at her._**

**_"Well, I'll be damned…Su, it has been too long. You just came from a date?" Eames said as he got a bit more comfortable on the barstool he was currently sitting in._**

**_"Yeah, hardly a date, from where I'm sitting—it was more of a job I just got done that needed somewhat of what I'm good at. This one was a dud—wasn't as exciting as some of the things I can remember in boot, remember?"_**

**_Eames nodded his head as he knew what Cait was talking about._**

**_"Who hasn't forgotten the obstacle course? If I recall correctly, you and I were the only ones that manage to climb to the top and ring that bell without too many bruising and scratches."_**

**_"No…you got more bruising because of the one before the rope. I only had gotten a rug burn from the first one alone."_**

**_Eames shook his head as he remembered it all._**

**_"So, what brought you to this little niche in the world? This is hardly a place I can see you frequent quite often…unless you know of Lars outside of this fine establishment."_**

**_"Well, a little birdy happen to catch me and tell me that you were home and I figured that, since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I'd drop on by and say hi. I thought that, if you weren't doing anything at the moment, maybe we could try catching up on ol' times and what we've been doing since basic."_**

**_Eames nodded his head at the thought—it had been too long and he was kind of curious as to what Cait had been up to. So, he took his pint glass and raised it up a little towards the woman._**

**_"So, to old times and good mates," he said with a soft grin._**

**_"Mmmm, and more," she added as the two glasses clinked softly at the mutual toast…_**

It was the SLAM of the door not far from Ai sat that got her out of her daydreaming and back to reality. She turned her head to see that Eames had walked in, looking a bit glum for some odd reason. Popping out the earphones, she got to her feet slowly in case he didn't want to talk with her.

"Rough night?" she asked as she took note of the wrinkling appearance of his suit pants and the shirt peeking underneath the matching jacket.

"No, not really, love…then again, when was the last time you had a go in the sack?" he flat out asked back.

"Funny you ask me that—had to be the same time I 'left' you," she replied back, almost snapping at Eames. "And, while you're asking, it also includes touching myself down there…unlike yourself, whom I wouldn't think you'd have a problem with that, watching all the preteen girls here in Paris," she added while on a roll.

Eames just stared at her with narrowed eyes as he stepped in closer to her. Once the two were close enough to feel the other's breath did the British Forger stop.

"You're walking on a very fine line here, Caitlynn…don't think I don't know what you're trying to pull here," Eames warned the handler.

"Is that right? Are you sure that's what I'm doing here, Eames? Or, maybe you haven't learned all about who I am and what I'm capable of…not like you haven't the past three years," Ai warned back as she poked at his chest. "So, either you stop with the threats if you're not going to go through with them or stay the fuck out of my way. Once this job is done, I'm out of your life for good…"

And, with that, Ai went back to her laptop and jabbed the earphones back in her ears, drowning out the angry vibes she was getting from the Forger.

**A/N: one of my longer chapters...this one was fun to write and the first chapter I wrote while in Basic. I definitely had to go back and edit it to really fix it up, but like I said, I liked how this panned out when I added what I wanted in here.**


	5. Chapter 4 (Ai's POV)

**Disclaimer: Please see the first chapter for proper disclaimer.**

(Ai's POV)

"How do you know Eames?"

The brunette handler looked up from the file in her hands to find the young Architect looking at her from the work table where Adriane was working on her totem.

"Tis a long story, kiddo—I'm not even sure you want to even hear my little sob story," Ai replied back as she looked back down at the papers. ""Sides, I got history with that man that dates back WAY before dream-sharing, and some of it I can't even remember unless it's glimpses…not really vivid."

"I'm not going anywhere, Lynn. What I have to do in order to hear it? Besides, I can take a break from this for a while," Adriane replied as she gave her full attention to the older woman.

Ai sighed as she looked at the Architect again, this time closing the folder up and placing it away. IF she was going to tell the story right, she might as well just spill it out.

"All right, Adri—what would you like to know?"

"How well do you know Eames? Like how you know of Arthur, Yusuf, and Dom? Like Dom's ex-wife, Mal?"

At the mention of Mal's name did Ai look away from the Architect, which Adriane took notice and was curious all the more because of the reaction on the handler's eyes. It was gone as soon as Ai looked back a moment later.

"Mallory…she was my cousin—her dad and my mom are brother and sister, so you can imagine the look on our faces when I met her the first time when I was starting secondary schooling. I met Dom some time later when I was just finishing up secondary school and before I joined the military. That's where I met Eames—we were in the same basic training group together…he always had a thing about not being able to think strategy before acting on impulse. But, that's been taken care of lately, as far as I can tell. Anyhow, after basic was completed, Eames and I separated to go our own ways and I met Arthur about a year later. Yusuf, I had met sometime much later when dream-sharing came into the picture in its earlier stages. Not like how it is currently, mind you—it was a bit of a new frontier for most of us. Sometime later down the road…I have to say about a year after I had left the military life, which is about the same time I had recruited to join on the dream-sharing program; I had met up with Eames in his home ground of London.

"It was in London that Eames and I had started what would be a five month relationship…"

"So, you two were…" Adriane said as Ai nodded her head.

"We dated…so yes, I know just how he is intimately…and it was probably the best I've ever had in a long time. I ended up with a really great guy…" Ai added as she absently played with her necklace, which Adriane saw what looked like a solid band of diamonds peeking from the handler's shirt. "Then one day…I ended up getting hurt in a dream link I had accidently stumbled into. It wasn't a pretty sight after getting hurt. It had messed up my psyche for a good while—took me almost a year to recover and be back to how I was prior to the attack. Anyway, the event caused Eames to make my totem…only he knew how it was, since he did model it after a charm I had on me when we were going out. And, if that would make you think he was dedicated, he had to stand suicide watch on me. After all of a few days, he left to go get some food for the apartment we shared…but I had left before he got back."

"That's horrible!" Adriane said as her eyes widen a bit.

"I know, but I wasn't in the right mind and I needed time alone to regain what I lost in that accident—my psyche. I fell off the grid, not taking any jobs when I had left. It wasn't until I recovered that I started to take on small jobs, making sure that I never got in his radar…I had buddies that took on jobs with him and they'd tell me how he was. I didn't know he even took on this job until I saw him when I got here. So…you've heard my sob story…what do you think of it?" Ai said once she finished her tale.

Adriane took the time to digest everything that she just learned of the handler's tale. She could tell that Ai still had feelings for the Forger and it didn't sate Adriane's curiosity on what the Forger thought of all this. So, she made it her mission to find out what the British man really thought of the handler and if he still had feelings for her.


	6. Chapter 5 (Eames' POV)

**Disclaimer: Please see the first chapter for proper disclaimer.**

(Eames's POV)

The Forger was watching Ai interact with the Chemist on his project of making sure that the sedative that Yusuf had promised Cobb and the team was working properly. He took notice of how Ai would tuck back a stray hair behind her pierced ear, something he noticed that she didn't have three years prior to the current moment…and he kinda like the cartilage piercing on Ai. There were things that he took notice of the Handler as of late and it made him think of the time when they were together. He didn't really think that Ai was at fault for leaving all those years ago—but, he was still upset over how she didn't trust him enough to get through the process of recovering from the accident. He bit his lower lip at the mere thought as he continued to stare. However, he didn't have long to stare at, since he had to be over at the Fischer's estate to play his role of getting more intel for the team.

It wasn't until a few days later after he had returned that he was briefing everyone what was going on in the Fischer household. As he was relaying what he had seen and heard, he would glance over at Ai's direction, taking in what she was wearing: a black off shoulders top that really showed off her upper torso curves really well, a pair of faded blue jeans that were ripped at the knees and black motorcycle boots that he kind of liked on Ai. All-in-all, the change in Ai's outfits really did reflect that she had really gotten over what had haunted her in the days that followed her accident and grown up really well. He must have spaced out pretty well after giving his intel to the team that he didn't take note of his chair being tipped back until he caught himself and straighten up the chair. He looked around to see if Arthur might have done the tipping, but one good look at Ariadne told him that he was mistaken by the assumption.

"It's the feeling of falling that snaps ya out of a dream—it helps out in the long run…trust me, it works," Ai said as she was answering a question that Arthur imposed to the group.

"What can we use to sync the kick then?" Ariadne asked.

"Well, we could use the music countdown to sync the kick on the different levels," Arthur replied.

"What, we're going to use the same music as always?" Ai asked.

"Why not?"

"Artie, not everyone has the same taste as you. And, besides, Edith Piaf does get a bit redundant after a while…" Ai merely suggested. "Not saying I hate her music—kinda soothing and so you."

"Ha, ha…" Arthur dryliy said. "So, three levels down…dreams are going to collapse…with the slightly disturbance."

"Hence the compound Yusuf is working on—it's different from the ones we're already been exposed to in the past."

"Brain function in the dream will be about twenty times to normal. When you enter a dream within that dream, the effect is compounded: it's three dreams, that's ten hours times twen..." Yusuf started to say before Eames interrupts.

"I'm sorry, uh, math was never my strong subject. How much time is that?"

"A week in the first level…six months on the second…" Cobb said as he figured out the math.

"…ten years on the third," Ai finished it.

"Who would wanna be stuck in a dream for ten years?" Ariadne started to say.

"It depends on the dream," Yusuf said.

"It also depends on the dreamer…quite frankly, ten years is plenty enough for most people to reflect on their life," Ai said as she pulled out a pack of smokes and hit the carton on the palm of her hand. "So…are we able to take a break from all this briefing? Or, shall I just go and let you guys continue while I go for my smoke break?" Ai asked as she stood up from her chair.

Dom nodded his head as Ai took her leave to head out of the room; Eames was watching her all the more.

_**A/N: Ok, I might have switched a couple of things in the order of this scene...that's because of the draft verison of the script I saw online. But, it'll start getting good in the next couple of chapters.**_


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